Sarah Radford - The Online Newsroom

It was good to hear from an old Cardiff student today. Sarah graduated in 2004, and is now working as an online journalist for the Newbury Weekly News. Though complimenting the newspaper, the online edition is seperate and distinct from it.

Though still very much in its infancy ( the online edition employs 3 journalists, compared to 21 for the print edition ), multi-media is very much the future.

Online journalism allows the reporting of news on a daily basis, something which is not possible with a weekly newspaper. It also allows for the updating of a rolling-news story.

Far from damaging newspaper circulation (as many "old school" editors fear), online editions actually support and compliment the work of their print compatriots.

It seems that those who embrace this change will be the ones who survive and prosper, whereas those who do not will go the way of the dinosours.

UGC seems to be mantra of the moment. Here is CNN's take on Youtube's "coverage" of the recent Israeli/Lebanese conflict:

PTC New Journalist Awards

A day-trip to London today for the PTC New Journalist Awards 2006. I have to admit that when my alarm went-off at 4.45AM, the temptation just to roll-over and pretend I hadn't heard it was nearly overwhelming! I didn't even know that 4.45am existed! I'm not really a "morning person" anyway, so when my mobile started buzzing and vibrating an inch from my head my initial thoughts were, "Please, for the love of God - NO!" I phoned Ewen to make sure he was up and about, and much to my delight he sounded a lot worse than I felt. The Germans have a word for that - "schadenfreude".

The journey itself was fairly uneventful. Of some concern was the coach driver who couldn't read our tickets, even though he was holding them up to within about a centimetre of his eyes. He also insisted on having the air-con set on "sub-zero" for the entire journey. Oh, and a top-tip for anyone else planning on visiting the "big-smoke" - DO NOT give the tube map to the only member of the party who is colour-blind! (Sorry guys).

Confusing the Jubilee Line for the Bakerloo Line not withstanding, we arrived at The Mayfair at Grovesnor Square fashionably late. After being met by Tim (who had taken the train - a perk of being in charge I guess!), we were split into groups and ushered into the master-classes that were being held.

These classes consisted of four talks given by some of the great-and-the-good in the industry. All of them were engaging and informative, but kudos to Mark Dinning for his talk on interviewing the "A-list". He recounted a fantastic story concerning the actress, Ashley Judd. For the sake of space, I will not go into the details here, suffice to say it confirmed everything I imagined about celebrity behaviour. Oh, and don't even get me started on Russell Crowe!

The classes wound-up about midday, and after a couple of complimentary champagnes (I think they were probably sparkling wine actually), we took our seats in the dining-hall. We had the chance to meet and talk to a couple of last years magazine students who had been nominated for awards, and received some very heartening news regarding shorthand - getting 100wpm is not that important! At last - someone saying the things I want to hear.

Dinner was very haute cuisine. What there was was very nice, but there wasn't much of it. Having not eaten since five in the morning I was famished and could have really done with some good, honest refectory "stodge".

The meal was a three-course affair and was followed by the main event - the awards. Don't ask me who won what, because I really cannot remember (the four glasses of "champagne" had given me something of a warm glow within, and I really am not that very good with names anyway).

After the proceedings were wrapped-up, we trekked off in the direction of Paddington. Tim and I were trying to out-do each other with our knowledge of London. It was a competition (and I'm sure Tim did get a little competitive), that I won hands-down!

And that, pretty much, was that. Had a fantastic day, and was very glad to have the experience. It was all very inspiring and with a little luck, in a couple of years, who knows - I might be back. Hopefully, not just as a spectator. Well, I can dream!

*Peter Clifton - Head of BBC News Interactive*

A fantastic introduction from Peter Clifton today. In response to Simon’s preamble, his opening words to us were, “Well, most of that was bollocks!”

A self-confessed “potty-mouth”, Mr Clifton had travelled (slept) on the train from London to give us the inside-view of BBC interactive.

An entertaining and engaging speaker, he gave us an overview of where the BBC’s interactive output is at today, and what innovations they are developing in order to keep the service relevant and cutting-edge into the future.

Interactive TV, Podcasts, Vodcasts, and Microsoft Media Centre are all tools which the BBC are hoping to utilize in the coming months and years.

As with most of our previous speakers, Mr Clifton commented in some detail on User Generated Content (UGC).

I found the story of the Hemel Hempstead depot fire highly amusing. The BBC journalists on the scene were inundated with people offering them their pictures taken on mobile phones. The journos were grateful to receive all this material, but had absolutely no idea of how to transfer the images from the phones to the multi-million pound satellite-trucks from which they were operating!

After covering the future of BBC interactive, Peter proceeded to give us some insightful and crucial advice on how best to get that job at the end of the course. The need for good core-writing skills is paramount. Nearly everything else can be learnt on-the-job, but, “If they can’t spell, then they can just fuck-off!”

A potty-mouth indeed!

Dr Daniel Meadows - Digital Storytelling for the Masses

Not an outside guest speaker this week, but Dr Daniel Meadows. Dr Meadows teaches New Media and Photography here in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University.

Obstensibly a talk on the relationship between those infront of the camera and those behind it, it was primarily concerned with "Capture Wales". Capture Wales is a project where the people of Wales are given the opportunity to commit their stories to film.

The talk itself I found to be interesting and raised a number of issues with regard to the new phenomenon of "User Generated Content".

The problem I had was with the way it was delivered. Dr Meadows certainly knows what he is talking about and has obviously written an extremely informed and learned thesis on it, but do I want to sit in a lecture theatre for an hour and a half and have it read to me word-for-word? well, quite frankly, no.

I found it particulaly ironic that the talk was supposed to be about "interactivity" between the journalist and the audience, and yet, for the most part, Dr Meadows delivered his lecture with his face planted in his notes.

To be fair, I did find that the video clips he played added a great deal to the talk and were highly amusing. I especially liked the clip of the workers in a First World War munitions factory who, rather innocently, had no idea how to act infront of a camera.

Philip K Dick once said in order to find the treasure you must first trawl through the trash (or words to that effect), and the same is true with UGC. The sidelines have become the mainstream, and I was very heartened to hear that Wales is in the vanguard of citizen journalism. Often regarded by the great and the good (well, those in London anyway) as being something of an irrelevance, Wales is leading the way in its use of UGC.

As to why "citizen stories" have not caught-on in England, well it's because, as is so often the case, "England just doesn't get Wales."

General Musings Continued

Have finally heard back from the guys at Rugby Magazine in New York. I wrote to them a few weeks ago asking (begging) for them to let me spend some time with them over Easter. Had thought they might have filed my letter under "B", but it seems not. The editor mailed me over the weekend saying that they could always do with some help around the office, and so it seems that I'm on my way to the Big Apple. I have mailed him back to confirm the offer, and once again I am on tenterhooks waiting for his reply. Am very excited at the prospect of being back in the US of A, and am hoping against hope that this doesn't go belly-up. Will keep you updated...

Richard Burton - former editor of The Telegraph online

Interesting talk today from Richard Burton (not that one!), editor until a few months ago of the online edition of The Telegraph.

A victim of the Telegraph's ongoing drive towards "convergance", Mr Burton was kind enough to spend some of his recently acquired free time to come and give us, “the inside story of how one national chose to embrace the digital revolution.”

Mr Burton’s background was that of a print journalist before moving to online. Having been in the eye of the storm pretty much since The Telegraph became the first National to go online in 1994, he is well placed to give us an interesting and informative lecture on the nature of online journalism in the mainstream press today.

The best advert for online journalism is, according to Richard (I hope he doesn’t mind me being so familiar), is that it allows him, “to act like a journalist should”. Online, as opposed to print journalism, allows the journalist to remain up to date and relevant. In print media, the story can be “old-news” by the time it’s off the press. Of course the downside to this, (or maybe it’s a plus), is that the online journalist is far more accountable to his/her public. A reader can instantly offer feedback, and frequently does, to the extent that some journalists can have the impression of being stalked by their readers.

I was very interested in his telling us that online picture galleries are an effective means of boosting the “hit-tally”. I got the impressions that this aspect of online journalism was primarily an exercise in duping the ad-men into coughing up more money. Maybe it’s just the cynic in me, and I concede that I could be very wrong, but what struck me most was the feeling that one of Richard’s chief gripes with the establishment at The Telegraph was the constant pressure on him to compromise his stance in the battle between raising advertising revenue and maintaining the brand’s credibility.

I found the part of his lecture about Blogging to be both extremely interesting and pertinent. When, during our first online lecture, we were told that we would have to create and maintain our own personal Blogs, my initial reaction was, “Why the hell should anyone care about anything I’ve got to say?” Richard, it seems, agrees with me! The thought I took away from this lecture, more than any other, was that it’s not enough just to sit at a computer and Blog for the sake of Blogging. Above all else you must have something relevant or interesting to say. And as I’ve run out of both relevant and interesting things to say I am going to leave it there.